Private rocket achieves orbit on fourth try

After three failed attempts, the private space firm SpaceX successfully launched a rocket into orbit on Sunday, marking what may be the beginning of a significant drop in the cost of spaceflight.

The two-stage Falcon 1 rocket launched at 1115 GMT from Omelek Island on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, roughly 4000 kilometres southwest of Hawaii.

Paypal entrepreneur Elon Musk has said he founded SpaceX with the aim of driving down the cost of space access. The firm estimates that Falcon 1 flights will cost as little as $7.9 million a piece, roughly three times less expensive than current launches.

In an interview with New Scientist on Friday, Musk said if the launch was successful, "I won't need a rocket, because I'll be over the Moon."

The rocket's second stage achieved a stable orbit more than 500 km above Earth. The first stage, which the firm aims to make recoverable, is thought to have burned up when it re-entered the atmosphere.

Sunday's success is the firm's fourth attempt to reach orbit, but only the second test of its new, fuel-cooled Merlin 1C engine.

The firm lost the first such engine during a launch attempt on 3 August. The engine's first stage still had considerable thrust after it was shut down, which caused it to ram into the rocket's second stage after the two had separated.

No payload

The failure destroyed several payloads, including a $3.5 million Pentagon-supported satellite called Trailblazer and two NASA projects totalling $2.3 million. One, called PRESat, carried yeast for microgravity biology experiments. The other was NanoSail-D, a 9-square-metre solar sail that folded into a container the size of a loaf of bread.

That rocket was also carrying the cremated remains of some 208 people, including Star Trek actor James Doohan and astronaut Gordon Cooper.

This time, the Falcon 1 rocket carried a 165-kilogram mass simulator, meant to mimic the weight and heft of real payloads.

New age

The firm paid for the launch out of pocket, Musk told New Scientist. The previous three flights were paid for by the US Defense department.

Some industry watchers were delighted by the development. "[The] flight can be a bright glint of the new dawn for the Space Age that's just over the horizon," says aerospace consultant Charles Lurio.

Such cargo would be lofted into space in a capsule atop the firm's Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX aims to install the rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida, later this year and to launch it in mid-2009.

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SpaceX launched its first liquid-fuel powered rocket into orbit Sunday. The firm hopes to drop the cost of space access (Image: SpaceX)